


Little Animal Baos

by Wannabe_Etymologist



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29235408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wannabe_Etymologist/pseuds/Wannabe_Etymologist
Summary: Marinette makes custom baos for the team.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	1. Making the Dough

**Author's Note:**

> I used Tasty's "How To Make The Cutest Baos" video for reference.

_Milk, yeast, sugar, flour. Knead until smooth._

It was a simple recipe, perfect for late-night cooking espionage. Even so, she felt anxious.

She had a game plan and everything - all the ingredients except for milk were out, she'd sketched up a diagram, gotten a cookbook for reference even though she didn't need it. . .

"Marinette!" Tikki called. "I found the dough hook!"

"Oh, good," she said. "Could you attach it to the stand mixer?"

"On it!"

Mentally checking it off, Marinette hustled to the fridge to get the milk.

_Measuring cups, measuring cups._

They were already out - where were they? Behind the - yes, behind the mixer.

_Milk_ , she thought, checking it off as she dumped it into the bowl. _Yeast. Sugar, and. . . flour._

"There we go," Marinette said. "Tikki, pass me the spatula."

(She didn't _need_ to mix the dough by hand, but she wanted to.)

From there, all she had to do was turn on the mixer and wait ten minutes. The hum of the mixer was therapeutic, almost.

In the meantime, she went to arrange the food coloring by the sketch.

Orange food coloring for Rena Rouge's, green for Carapace's, yellow for Queen Bee's, red for her own. Black for the faces, the bee's stripes, the ladybug's spots. . . and Chat Noir's _whole_ bao.

Yikes.

"Marinette," Tikki said, "the mixer's done."

The mixer _was_ done, yes, but was the dough?

She felt it, and smiled.

_Sufficiently smooth._ (It didn't need to be perfect anyways, she reminded herself.)

"Alright," Marinette said. "Time to let it sit for an hour."

"An _hour?"_


	2. Finalizing the Baos

Tearing the dough into chunks was _incredibly_ satisfying. Kneading the coloring into the dough, less so, but still therapeutic.

The dough was divided into six parts - one for each bao and one for the decor - with Chat Noir's in the works. It would be solid black, save for the face, with chocolate truffle filling.

The workspace was silent, save for Tikki humming along to the piano music she'd set. Neither was too tired to speak - in fact, Marinette had prepared a cup of oolong tea while the dough was resting - nor was there some pressing issue subduing the air, nor had they run out of things to talk about.

They just. . . didn't. There was no need or want to, so they didn't.

"There," Marinette said to herself. "That's good." The black coloring was sufficiently even, so she smushed the dough a little, wrapped the truffle with it, and rolled it until it was smooth again.

The embellishments were also simple. Smaller pieces of dough were colored black, shaped into triangles for the ears, while uncolored dough was rolled out for the eyes, nose, and whiskers.

And. . . it was done. (Almost, anyway, but Marinette planned on steaming all of them together.)

Tikki oohed, and handed her the orange food coloring.

Once Rena Rouge's bao dough was sufficiently orange, Marinette wrapped the truffle and shaped the embellishments. White for the belly, black for the ears and face.

The tail was a little trickier. She _could_ have left it plain orange, but. . . no.

Instead, she stuck a bit of white dough to a bit of orange dough and rolled it out a bit.

_Perfect._

Rena Rouge's bao was done. (Almost.)

Carapace's was about as difficult. Marinette rolled out a green dough ball, made a flat piece for the shell, and created five smaller dough balls for the head and legs. She presses out lines in the shell, put it together, and it was done.

(Almost.)

Queen Bee's was a little easier. Yellow dough ball for the body, flat strips of black dough for the stripes, flat teardrops for the wings.

_Put it together. . . and done!_

Almost.

All she needed to do was make her own, steam them, and clean up.

**Author's Note:**

> It's late. I want a bao now.


End file.
